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Nursing wounded and orphaned Emjos back to health and reintroducing them into their original wild environments takes a great deal of infrastructure.

Aside from their considerable size and sturdy built, Emjos are delicate creatures with complex behavioral patterns and intricate in group relations. All of these have to be carefully considered and regularly tended to in every step of the process.

From veterinary surgeons, nurses and anesthesiologists to caretakers and behavioral analysts are involved with each animal at different stages of their recovery.

Caretakers and groundskeepers spend the most time in direct contact with the Emjos and as a result strong bonds are formed between them.

Rogg a groundskeeper of the Emjo nursery section has worked with some of these animals for well over 4 cycles. Mothers and orphaned calves recognize him every morning as he walks into their enclosure and trot to greet him, emitting warm whaling sounds and competing for Roggs attention. Emjos love getting the hardshell areas scrubbed. The dry mud gathered after their regular wallowing routines concentrates on the rigid skin while it easily falls from the softer striations. Wild and captive Emjos scratch themselves against tree trunks or lean sideways against rock walls, but Roggs brushing is more effective and less demanding.  Roggs feels this bond as well. As he has participated in the coaxing protocols to pair the grieving mothers and the orphaned calves into adopting each other. He always liked Emjos but participating in their rebinding has brought him much closer to them. An orphan himself, raised in a communal boarding school. Rogg is often moved by this expressions of familial ties, the likes of which he never enjoyed.

With each successful pairing he feels more accomplished and in awe of the restorative capacity of this incredible animals. The Emjos.

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Tall Almanos from the Elegg region are much taller than their counterparts from the tropical areas of the Molnnory, Known as the Mute Almano.  Out in the open terrain the Almano reaches 2 meters by their first cycle and some can reach 7 meters by sexual maturity. In the tropical forests they rarely go above 3,5 meters. Managing much more height under the tropical tree coverage would be a hinderance.   Height aids the Tall Almano with the air filtration. Permitting their circular respiration, with constant inhalation through their multiple nostrils situated under the large striations on their long necks. Through which they emit their characteristic uninterrupted whaling sounds with occasional loud chirps that can be heard all across the terrain. The chant known as the Almano Song, pushed to its louder registries acts also as deterrent for predators.  The complex language employed by the Almanos in their song is complex and allows constant communication among themselves as they keep a scattered herd. By mirroring the same chant with a slight variation they talk back and forth throughout the expansive terrain. Distances up to 10 Kilometres and even further subsonically. This way the Almano Song keeps the herd located and in contact at all times optimising the herds security, as well as scouting for best spots and procuring nutritional findings.  The constant chanting and replication is shared and modified simultaneously by each member of the herd. This external chorus is seen was a manifestation of the herds inner spirits and preoccupations. Shepherds follow the choirs chant to assess their wellbeing and monitor their attitude.  All Tall Almanos shepherds use protective gear, as their seemingly uninterrupted whistling sounds can easily reach 180 decibels. Even then, veteran shepherds tend to suffer severe hearing loss over time.  Contrary to popular belief, the Almano from the tropics, known as the Mute Almano, isn’t silent but it communicates mostly subsonically with its herd, which are much smaller and even more spread apart. Over the years, chant recording studies and analysis have demonstrated a clear use of similar language patterns for both species.  Derived from this perceived differences the Tall Almanos herds from the Elegg region, are popularly referred to as “Almano Choirs” and those who shepherd them colloquially known as “conductors” as well as the tropical Mute Almano, from the Molnnory, be considered a solitary species.

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Although Marhn has been tending to this Horned Ollies for 8 cycles he still finds them mesmerising. How such large, mighty creatures can move so gently across the terrain. He can barely hear them if he closes his eyes.

 For Marhn it’s hard to believe this natural wonders could one day cease to be. They seem as much a part of the landscape of the Elyanno plains as the Cobb Mountain Chain or the Sawff river.   As a child Marhn had seen Horned Ollies in the old docu rolls and encyclopaedic archives of his units knowistry. Ollies were his favourite and loved to depict them on the simulators whenever teaches gave them task free access. He knew them by heart and was one of the best among his classmates at emulating them. His sims could even make sounds, emote and make eye contact. Loop copies of Marhn’s sims were often shared around by classmates and they even got to impress the students of higher grades that saw them. He was a natural.   Around Marhn’s 2nd cycle, brief but ghastly reports of the plea of the Horned Ollie started to emerge. Sadly as he grew older, colonies grew smaller and foreseeable extinction was in the horizon. It only got worst and worst. All conservation efforts failed as the environment of the Lacla continued to degrade. Nutrient scarcity and the irreversible toxicity of the ground were too severe for the remaining Ollie population, already weakened and massively stressed. Reproduction numbers had thinned like the quality of the environment and the precious few new births faced a dire prospect.   At the time Marhn volunteered into the Assisted Migration Program, he did it only as a brief aside, something to help during a 3rd of the cycle at most and return to his position in the Ella Department of Analysis. It was his career after all. Once there, he worked on managing and strategy which felt closer to his profesional expertise.

When the recruitment notice for ground positions came up in the internal boards, he felt his skin rise with electricity. He hadn’t even considered it. He had come there just to help. Being actually close to the Ollies had not occurred to him. See them in person.

Soon after he applied for the position and was transported to the Elyanno plains, Marhn saw them for the first time. This environment was as new for Marhn as it was for the Ollies. Feeling of doubt, fear and trepidation whenof facing the unknown landscape. He felt that within him as much as he saw it in them. He felt synched to them. This changed Marhn for good. It became clear he would not go back to an office. Not as long as he could afford to be out in the open. Out with the Horned Ollies.

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John Harris.

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riyoko ikeda’s dear brother || 池田理代子の『おにいさまへ…』

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KATSUHIRO OTOMO Memories

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This work was done in January 2021, when I was completely drawing in SAI. A lot has changed since then, but I really still love it!

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I forgot to announce - at the end of the month, I will have a short story in the december issue of the “IMAGE!” 30th anniversary anthology, from @imagecomics - with colors by Drew Shields